Pregnancy Update 15-16 weeks

I just started my 17th week!!  Almost halfway there!!  I had my first Braxton Hicks contraction for this pregnancy yesterday.  As you can imagine, it kind of freaked me out.  I never thought it was normal to get them before late pregnancy.  Apparently you can start feeling them as early as 15 or 16 weeks and as long as you don’t get more than 4 an hour, you are okay.  I only had 1.  I drank a lot of water and figured I should rest today instead of playing tennis.  I did a lot this week.  Tuesday I walked our Parade of Homes for about 2 hours, Wednesday I got my butt handed to me in Cardio Tennis and had to stop after 45 minutes because I was getting to hot.  Thursday I played about 2 hours of doubles tennis.  Friday I cleaned house for a couple hours (bathrooms, vacuuming and stuff).  I was scheduled to play doubles again this morning for fun (not league play) and decided to skip it since only really good men had signed up.  My friends were not able to.  I guess that’s God’s way of telling me I shouldn’t play today.  This afternoon we plan to walk Parade of Homes again anyway, so I’ll get a little exercise in from that.  Anyway, no more contractions, just lots of movement from the baby.  So exciting!  Still haven’t gotten Nicholas to feel it yet.  If he were quieter and more patient, I think it would happen.  Maybe in the next couple weeks.

Ed is on his last weekend night call EVER!!!  He was super busy last night, so hopefully it dies down tonight.  If it does, he plans to have me come in and him and an OBGYN resident are going to do an ultrasound on me so we can see the sex of the baby!!  So excited, but trying not to get too wound up in case they are busy and cannot get me in.  Literally they could call me and by the time I get up there not be able to do it if they are called on a case.  I’ve really got to keep and open mind so I am not disappointed. :)  Wish us luck!!!

Soccer Star

With both boys, I felt their kicking “bubbles” at around 14-16 weeks.  This time around is much different.  I’ve gotten bigger much faster, and I swear I started feeling “rolling” in my uterus around week 9. 

I’m now 16 weeks along, and 3 nights ago, I felt baby really give a good kick.  I was laying in bed with my hand on my abdomen.  All of a sudden my hand moved!  I got Ed’s hand and told him, “Feel this.”  A couple seconds later baby kicked again.  “Yep, I felt it!” 

Now, this one is measuring bigger…we’ve discussed that before.  This is all beginning to convince me that we’ve conceived a soccer star.  This kid can kick!  It will be crazy to feel him/her in about 20 more weeks. :)

Week 12-15: Pregnancy update

Crazy month that has gone by!  I’m bigger, the baby measures a week big (even though my dates are rock solid) and my feet are already swollen (something to do with 106 degree weather).  My husband is FINALLY home! 

This measuring big thing is weighing on my mind.  For those of you who don’t know, my last baby (Ernie- 3yrs) was a whopping 9 lbs, 11 oz.  I’m only about 5’4” and normally around 136 pounds, so that is a big baby!  I had him normally with drugs, and my new OBGYN is freaked out that my last OBGYN did not do an ultrasound to find out how big he was.  Granted, those things do have a 1 lb. error both ways in weight…but at least I would have known the baby was measuring over 8 lbs!  So, this time she is having me do several ultrasounds to monitor the baby’s weight.  If she does one at 36 weeks and discovers an 8 lb baby in there at that point, we might have to consider some things like C-Section, early induction, etc…  I am of the opinion, I will worry when I get there, but I am also a planner.  This means I am thoroughly researching it now, and having all the info in my mind to ask questions once the time comes (if it comes).  Better prepared than sorry.

That’s the update! :)

Drama in the ER

On May 13, I went in the hospital.  The problem started a couple weeks ago in the form of what I thought was “round ligament pain.”  I knew it was early to be having it, and if you had not looked at my belly lately you’d think I was crazy, but with my belly being so much bigger than in past pregnancies, I just took it in stride.  I had this achy pain on the right side of my stomach and it followed up my bikini line to my back.  It would come and go and almost felt as if I had a muscle in my back trying to knot up.  You know that pulling feeling?  Anyway, I’d lay down on my left side and it would go away until I started getting up and going again.  No big deal, just lay down every 30 min or so, right?  Right.  It started to progressively get worse and tylenol and heating pads were no longer working.  Tuesday, after work, I went straight home, ate and laid in bed.  This time was different.  It was not subsiding.  I googled, “Is Round Ligament pain supposed to hurt this much?” and to my surprise found out that round ligament pain is short and stabby pain that goes away within seconds after laying down.  This is not what I had.  I called the doctor and they immediately told me to go to the ER.  I was in pain, freaking out about the baby and bawling.  I called the first stay at home mommy friend that I could find that had only one child, and she immediately came and got me.  She also took on the task of taking care of Christian.  I don’t know what I would have done without her.  Doc was in Dallas.

 

We got to the ER and my pain had subsided.  Every time I got up to register, urinate, get blood taken, see trauma nurse, my pain got worse.  Finally it would not subside again and it was so awful that I was crying again.  The nurse that took my blood told me that we needed to get a formal ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy was not ectopic.  This freaked me out even more.

 

After waiting in pain for what seemed like an eternity, and frantically texting my friend to come sit with me, and calling my husband while in pain and crying so I could have him fly home, I finally saw a doctor, and the morphine kicked in.  The first thing we did was look for the baby, and there it was!!  Kicking, and sucking it’s thumb.  That was an immense relief.  I knew I could get through this ordeal now.  I had a thorough ultrasound and they discovered 2 cysts on my right ovary.  One of them had ruptured.  They suspected that this was the only problem, but they had to rule out appendicitis as well, and felt like the pain was too intense to only be the cyst.  I was in the ER all  night (no open beds) and admitted the next morning to the hospital.  I stayed that night and was released the day after that.  Once I started eating and drinking (over 55 hours after coming to the hospital) and my pain was under control, I left the hospital.  I have been fine ever since.

 

My mother in law came and stayed with me for all of May until now (the first week of June) until Doc could come back from Dallas. (he had to go finish his rotation)  He’s back now, and today they left and went home.  I’m feeling more normal now, and hope to be on here more often.  It’s been a wild ride. :)

11 Week Belly

Wow, this is crazy stuff.  I just ate, so it’s probably a little more pronounced.  I can still fit into my prepregnancy jeans…just have to leave the belly unzipped…so although I’ve gained a little weight, most of it is in my belly and not my butt.  This is not like the last pregnancy.  I gained everywhere…of course I also ate like a horse and didn’t workout at all.  Should be interesting to see how it progresses.

Week 11 Update:

This has been my first week without any naps!!  My house is almost clean!  I’ve been working on it a little at a time since last Tuesday, and it’s coming along very nicely.

I’ve gotten my energy back, but I’ve started with other pregnancy-related symptoms.  I'm now experiencing this lovely thing called “Round Ligament Pain.”  I always wondered what the pain was…never really hurt before.  I guess it gets worse with subsequent pregnancies because now I feel it if I stand too long (like I can only clean for about 30 minutes and then I have to take a break).  It’s an odd feeling that starts with a pain in the groin area and goes up the bikini line finally ending in the lower back.  The only thing I can equate it to is the feeling that you get when a muscle is knotting up in your back…you know that pressure you feel before it starts hurting like crazy?  That’s the feeling.  It’s a dull pain…very achy, and annoying.

Other things going on…I’ve got a mysterious rash.  My friend Kristy says she swears I had the same thing with the last pregnancy, but I don’t remember.  It’s not too bad…just itchy enough that I need to use hydrocortizone, but not so itchy that I’m going crazy over it.  It’s got nothing on the post-partum pupps rash I had with Nicholas and Christian. 

I’ve gotten my beef appetite back.  I was craving hamburgers the other day, and sweets are not turning my stomach anymore.  I’ve gotten bigger in the belly.  I need to post another picture.

I am pretty sure I felt the baby move this week.  We’ll see if that is what I felt or not…time will tell.  I felt it a couple times this week, but not this weekend.  Maybe it was in my mind…and then again maybe not.

I’m scheduled for my first ultrasound on May 27.  I’ll post pictures. :)

Week 10!! Double Digits!!! (and other stuff)

We are finally into double digit weeks.  So excited!  I’ve been doing great even though my nausea and indigestion came back ALL last week.  I don’t want to jinx myself again, so I won’t tell you how I’ve felt today (although if you see my facebook status, you will know). ;-) 

I don’t really have much more to say on the pregnancy right now, but there are other things going on.

We are officially 2 months from the end of medical residency!!!!  This is awesome as once it is over, my husband will have “normal person” work hours.  He will start his Pain Medicine fellowship in July and exactly one year after that we are DONE!!!!  9 years of hard work and finally finished!!  YAY!

I scheduled a pool party for Doc for his birthday.  A perk of working at our athletic club is I can rent the pool for the cost of lifeguards for the 4 hours.  It will be really inexpensive as parties go, and we can have lots of fun.  I cannot wait until July is here.  I’m so excited for it to finally present itself to us.

After almost a year of kindergarten, I have found out that I could have picked up Bert from my car on days when it was rainy or really dusty.  I feel kind of dumb now, but am so glad to know this for next fall when baby is here and I have both the baby and a 3 year old to take in the building.  That is so not happening!!!

I cannot believe that I am almost the mother of a 1st grader, a 3 year old and a newborn!!  That’s a crazy life right there.  Wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 

Countdown to Ultrasound/heartbeat day:  25 days